Education Department Disputes Teachers Union’s Vacancy Rate Claims

Opening day teacher vacancies dropped by 13.3% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to the Florida Department of Education.

A news release from the department did not include the total number of vacancies, nor did officials respond to a request for the number.




A year ago, the department reported 4,776 teacher vacancies. By reducing that number by 13.3%, it can be approximated that teacher vacancies in the Sunshine State stand near 4,140.

“Florida has raised teacher pay, supported teachers in the classroom and created new pathways for qualified individuals to enter the teaching profession,” Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said in a news release.

The department reported 1.11 teacher vacancies per school, compared to 1.28 last August.

The Florida Education Association reported that there were 5,007 instructional positions open in Florida to start the school year. The union said it gathered the data by counting advertised vacancies on school district websites.

The department said it gathers its data directly from districts.

“Vacancy data is reported to the Department directly from school districts, contrary to other sources which have attempted to use inaccurate data to report inflated teacher vacancy data,” the department news release states.




The two organizations are nearly 900 vacancies off in their tallies, closer than their difference of more than 2,000 last year. The department said the FEA data last year was “falsely reported.”

“While the naysayers use the same tactics year after year to discredit Florida’s success in Education, once again the numbers speak for themselves,” Diaz said. “I am proud that Florida’s teacher vacancies continue to decline and I am confident that this is a direct result of the forward-thinking policies that Governor Ron DeSantis has championed.”

The FEA data included statewide support staff – people like bus drivers, groundskeepers, custodians, non-specialized teacher aides, and health-related workers – totaling 4,835 positions.

“It should not be lost on anyone, that right now, nearly 5,000 classrooms do not have a professionally trained teacher, impacting potentially over 100,000 students,” FEA President Andrew Spar said in a Thursday news release announcing its organization’s data. “Additionally, we continue to hear from teachers around the state that classrooms are overflowing with students and teachers are scrambling to find more desks and chairs.”

Filling the vacancies

The department credited increases in teacher pay included in the state budget and alternative pathways to becoming a teacher for veterans and “classical” schoolteachers (emphasizing the Western canon) and offering apprenticeships as reasons for the decrease in vacancies.

According to the department, more than 260 veterans have used the temporary teaching certificate available for them.

Data from the Florida Department of Education indicate that 466,233 certifications were held in the state during the 2022-2023 school year.

The department says the greatest need is in classrooms serving students with disabilities — teachers with Exceptional Student Education certificates.

English, science, math, and English for speakers of other languages are the next most in-demand certifications.

In 2022-2023, the most common certification held by Florida teachers was elementary education, followed by English for speakers of other languages, reading, special education, and pre-K.

–Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix